


if the fates allow

by loonyBibliophile



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bughead Secret Santa, Christmas, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:22:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21944308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonyBibliophile/pseuds/loonyBibliophile
Summary: They say everyone meets their soulmate on Christmas Eve. Jughead isn’t sure who ‘they’ are, but he thinks they must be wrong, for a number of reasons. First of all, not everyone celebrates Christmas, so the date would be completely meaningless outside of the western world. Second of all, the only person who wasn’t old or a relative that Jughead has ever met on Christmas Eve is Betty Cooper, and while she may be his best friend, there’s no way she’s his soulmate.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 19
Kudos: 159
Collections: 6th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees, Bughead Secret Santa, Home for the HoliDale





	if the fates allow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [knittersrevolt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knittersrevolt/gifts).



They say everyone meets their soulmate on Christmas Eve. Jughead isn’t sure who ‘they’ are, but he thinks they must be wrong, for a number of reasons. First of all, not everyone celebrates Christmas, so the date would be completely meaningless outside of the western world. Second of all, the only person who wasn’t old or a relative that Jughead has ever met on Christmas Eve is Betty Cooper, and while she may be his best friend, there’s no way she’s his soulmate. Because the same Christmas Eve where she met him, she also met their other best friend, Archie, and between Jughead Jones and Archie Andrews, there’s no way the universe would tell her she was destined for him. No siree. 

The third reason Jughead thinks this mysterious ‘they’ are wrong is the second half of the legend. They say you meet your soulmate on Christmas Eve, and then some indeterminate number of years later, on another Christmas Eve, you’ll kiss your soulmate under the mistletoe, and their name will appear over your heart. Jughead Jones saw his father’s bare chest every morning between the ages of five and sixteen, when he ran away from home, and every time he saw his mother’s name, Gladys, in her messy chicken scratch, even after she left in the middle of the night when he was thirteen, taking Jellybean with him, and leaving behind a stubborn Jughead who refused to leave his father. 

He’s not sure he knows any other soulmates. He knows Betty has said neither of her parents had names over their hearts, and Jughead’s seen Archie’s dad shirtless, and his ex-wife Mary’s name is nowhere to be seen, nor is any other name. And soulmates or not, all their parents had fallen apart pretty spectacularly. So Jughead Jones didn’t have a lot of hope for the concept of soulmates, or the holiday of Christmas in general. But every year, Betty invited him and Archie over to the Cooper Christmas Party, even though her mom Alice wasn’t really a Cooper anymore, and every year, he went. 

“Juggie!” Betty called out from the kitchen, just a little ways away, and he turned to look over his shoulder. She was smiling, face dusted with either flour or powdered sugar, and a large ceramic mixing bowl in her hands “Come taste something for me, I need your food expertise.” 

Grinning easily, Jughead stood up from the chair he was sitting on, watching Archie play a heated game of Mario Kart with Betty’s sister Polly. 

“At your service, as always.” Jughead drawled playfully as he entered the kitchen, smiling at the mess Betty had made with all her manic baking. Technically, the Christmas party didn’t start for a few hours, he and Archie had just walked over from Fred’s early to “help”, like they did every year. Not that they did a lot of actual helping. Archie mostly played video games or got in the way, and Jughead lurked in the kitchen, watching Betty cook, and stealing bites of cookie dough and pie filling. 

“I’m making this cream sauce for the potatoes and I’ve never made it before, would you taste it for me, please?” she’d put the ceramic bowl down on the counter and gone over the stove, where she was standing over a softly bubbling saucepan with something that smelled creamy and garlic-y and cheesy. She held a wooden spoon out to him and he leaned forward, taking a slurp of the delicious smelling sauce. 

“Christ, Betts. That’s delicious. You’re gonna kill us all with all this food one day.” he gestured around the kitchen, smiling at her. Her cheeks colored slightly, and she returned his smile shyly. 

“Thanks, Jug. God, it’s so weird to think this is probably our last Christmas like this.” she sighed, returning the lid to her saucepan and leaning against the counter with her arms crossed. 

“You think?” Jughead asked, frowning. She was right, it was weird to think about. Not that Jughead was overly fond of the holiday, but to the extent he celebrated it, Christmas was the annual Cooper Christmas Party with Betty and Archie. It had been that was since they were six, and Betty’s family moved to Elm Street from a city upstate. 

Things were so different, back then. Betty’s parents were still together. Fred and Mary were still together. Even his own parents had still been together, and things were still okay. Jellybean had just been born earlier that year, and six year old Jughead loved being a big brother. So when the new neighbors, The Coopers, knocked on the Jones’ door and invited the whole family to their Christmas party a few weeks after they moved in, FP and Gladys accepted. A few days later, Jughead and Archie shyly enter the Cooper home for the first time early in the evening on Christmas Eve, trailed by their parents, and meet Betty Cooper for the first time. She is all smiles and golden curls and the tiniest smudge of flour or sugar on the tip of her nose as she waves at them, introducing herself enthusiastically. 

Even back then, Jughead knew he was a goner. 

So, no, he’s not IMMUNE to the whole, Christmas and soulmates nonsense. He pretends to be, he wishes he was, but he’s not. And he’s sure that tonight Betty is getting kissed under the mistletoe, but it won’t be him kissing her or his name on her skin. 

“I mean, I don’t know about you,” Betty says, snapping Jughead back into the present, “But once I get out of here and away from my mom, I had kind of planned to stay away.” she shrugged. Jughead nodded, keeping quiet for the time being. Betty looked at him curiously. “You alright, Juggie?” she asked with a frown, putting down the bowl she had begun tending to in order to lay a hand on Jughead’s shoulder. He nodded, smiling softly, and reached up to squeeze her fingers. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. You’re right, that’s all. It’s weird to think this is probably the last time we’ll do this.” he shrugged with one shoulder, and Betty sighed, nodding. Before she spoke again, she wove her fingers between his, returning the squeeze and resting their hands on the table. 

“But you never know. We might still get to spend Christmas together.” she smiled at him, looking almost wistful, and he nodded, swallowing heavily. 

“Yeah, we could end up at the same college.” Jughead agreed. Betty frowned, just for a split second, and then nodded, hiding a quiet sigh. 

“Sure.” she said finally, nodding again, and finally pulling her hand from his to go attend to her cream sauce on the stove once again. Feeling the slightest bit awkward, Jughead squeezed her shoulder as a parting gesture, and slipped out of the kitchen to find Archie. 

Archie was occupied with his current flavor of the month, a tall, muscular guy named Munroe, who had just arrived and was being introduced to Polly. Alice was nowhere to be seen, probably still in the Register office. Between the girls being older and the divorce, Alice had stepped back from the holiday prep. Jughead didn’t mind, since she stressed Betty out, and he hated watching her spend hours cooking for everyone only to have her mother scold her about eating her own baked goods. 

“Oh, Jughead, can I talk to you for a second?” Polly glanced over in his direction, looking away from Archie and Munroe, who’d lapsed into talking about friends from their boxing class at the Y in Greendale. 

“Yeah, sure.” Jughead said with a nod, moving to walk over, but Polly shook her head and slipped over to his side of the living room, pulling him slightly aside and into the hallway leading to the rest of the house. “What’s up?”

“Would you try and talk to Betty for me, at some point tonight?” Polly asked, glancing around as if making sure no one was listening. 

“Are you guys fighting again? I don’t want to get in the middle of that again, last time I interfered in a fight with you and Betty, I got kicked in the stomach.” Jughead’s voice was playful, but he winced when he remembered trying to keep a much younger Polly from getting to Betty’s freshly made brownies and getting a rain boot to the gut. 

“No,no, she’s just been acting really strange, and you know her, she doesn’t really like to talk about stuff, but I’m worried about her, and you’re her best friend, so I figure you’re my best bet.

“Archie is also Betty’s best friend.” Jughead added. Polly shot him an unamused look. 

“Archie is not Betty’s best friend the way you are, Jughead Jones, and you and I both know that.” She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, and Jughead had to hold back a laugh at how much she looked like Betty in that exact moment. 

“What are you talking about, Pollyanna?” Jughead said playfully, mirroring Polly’s raised eyebrow.

“I’m talking, Forsythe, about the fact that my sister actually confides in you. Don’t get me wrong, I love Archie, he’s a sweetheart, but I know my sister isn’t out here telling ginger cupid her deepest and darkest secrets. After all, you’re the one she keeps that ladder around for.” Polly rolled her eyes, grinning mischievously at Jughead. 

“How do you even KNOW about that?” Jughead demanded, his eyes wide. 

“Relax, I know you just crash there when you get tired to Archie’s nonsense, or because you’ve been sexiled. But I do sleep next door, if someone clambers through the window at 2am, I am going to notice.”Polly smiled placidly. The Cooper women were going to be the death of him, he just knew it. 

“Fine, fine, I’ll check in with her. I guess she was being kind of strange in the kitchen earlier. I figured it was just because this is our last Christmas before we graduate, or because Archie continues to be taken on Christmas Eve, just like every year since we were like, ten.” 

“Archie?” Polly tilted her head. 

“Yeah, she had a crush on him when we were kids, and I’ve always just assumed she thinks he’s her soulmate, but he’s never single to be mistletoe kissed, and this year might be her last chance.” Jughead shrugged. 

“Jones, I sincerely doubt my sister is still holding onto her childhood infatuation with our neighborhood revolving door. And besides, she and Archie have kissed under the mistletoe before.” Polly shrugged, and Jughead blinked a few times, unsure what to say to that. 

“What?” he asked flatly.

“Yeah, I think it was when you guys were freshmen. You left for awhile in the middle of the party to do something, and Betty cornered Archie under the mistletoe because she ‘needed to know something’, and that’s the last I ever heard about it, so I assumed no one got a name written on their chest.” Polly shifted slightly, grabbing a piece of cheese and a handful of pretzels from the snack table “Anyway, just talk to her okay? I’m gonna go text Cheryl and remind her to behave with Veronica around Archie.” Polly gave a wave, pulling her phone from her pocket as she retreated to the couch. 

Jughead tucked his hands in his pockets, taking a moment to stand by the snacks and think quietly to himself. Since Betty had never told him she was over Archie, he’d just assumed things remained as they were. But when he thought about it, she had stopped commenting on his dates, unless they were friends of hers she was concerned about, or someone particularly interesting, like Archie’s most recent ex-girlfriend, Veronica, who was some filthy rich New York City heiress who’d come to have her senior year of high school in Riverdale with her mom’s extended family for ‘unknown reasons’. Veronica would actually be at the party later, since she was now dating Riverdale’s very own Queen Bee, Cheryl Blossom, who was always at the Cooper Christmas party along with her twin brother Jason, Polly’s fiance. 

As he stood, staring into space, Jughead felt someone nudge his calf with a foot. Turning around, he smiled to see Betty standing beside him, holding two heaping cups of hot cocoa in her hands. 

“Wanna go outside? I need a break from the kitchen now that my potatoes are safely bubbling away in the oven.” Betty wiggled her phone at him, and he could see she had a timer set to remind her about the potatoes. Her lockscreen was different than the last time he’d seen her phone. Last time, it had been a picture of her and Polly after Polly got engaged to Jason, at a nice picnic on the grounds at Thornhill. Now, it was a picture Jughead barely even remembered until he saw it.

“Sure.” He smiled easily, and reached out to take one of the mugs of cocoa from her “Where’d you get the relic you set as your lockscreen?” he asked with a laugh. Betty smiled, pulling her phone out again and pulling the image up. 

“I found a bunch of old pictures when I was working on Polly’s gift, and I just couldn’t help it. We’re so young!” 

The picture in question had been taken by Polly at the party where Jughead, Betty, and Archie had all met for the first time. Archie could be seen in the distance, a ginger blur running for the camera, but the shot was focused on Betty and Jughead, who were standing on the Cooper house’s back steps while Betty, wearing a striped hat with fake elf ears sewn on, did her best to shove a pair of red felt antlers over Jughead’s beanie. 

“It’s a good picture.” Jughead said with a chuckle, pulling open the back door for her. 

“It is! And all these years later, and basically nothing as changed.” Betty sighed quietly, shutting the door behind them and slipping down to sit on the steps. Jughead glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before transferring his cocoa to another hand and putting his arm around Betty’s shoulders. 

“What’s going on, Betts?” he asked gently, squeezing her shoulder “You’ve been weird tonight.”

“It’s silly.” she said, shrugging and taking a drink from her own mug. 

“C’mon, you know you can tell me anything.” Jughead smiled encouragingly at her, and nudged his shoulder against hers. 

“It just feels strange this year. I haven’t really put my finger on it yet. I can’t wait to get the hell out of Riverdale, don’t get me wrong. But something about this being the last Christmas we all live here together… I don’t know how to wrap my head around it.” Betty leaned into Jughead as she took another sip of hot chocolate. She held the mug in both hands, the chill in the air making her fingers pink. Betty shivered slightly as a light snow started to fall, and Jughead frowned. 

“Do you wanna go inside? It’s getting cold.” he offered, picking up his own mug from where he’d laid it on the steps in order to take another drink. 

“Just a few more minutes? I don’t want to go back and deal with everyone else yet.” Betty’s voice was quiet, and there was something in her face Jughead couldn’t quite read, so he just nodded in response, then pulled the old sherpa lined denim jacket he was wearing off, and tucked it around Betty’s shoulders. She smiled at him softly. “But now you’ll be cold.” she mumbled. 

“Nonsense, I’ve got the world’s best hot cocoa to keep me warm.” Jughead smirked, and held his mug out. Betty giggled, and tapped her own mug against his, in a mock toast. 

“It’s going to be so weird having Christmas without you, Juggie.” Betty said, her voice low, after a long pause. 

“Yeah, it has pretty much always been you, me, and Archie, huh? And we know Archie will still come home, and Fred will tell me to come along with him but… It’s easy to see myself just saving the money and staying in my dorm room for four years of Christmas Eves.” Jughead shrugged. 

“Just you and me, really.” Betty said thoughtfully “Archie’s always had a girlfriend or boyfriend on Christmas. And even when we were kids, he was always chasing after Polly and her friends.” she laughed lightly, shaking her head. “But at some point, every year, it ends up being just you and me, usually out on these steps.” she waved her hand at her own backyard. 

“I guess you’re right.” Jughead smiled, then tilted his head in thought “Why didn’t you ever tell me you kissed Archie?” he asked quietly, looking over at Betty. 

“How do you even know about that!” Betty raised her eyebrows, then immediately he posture slumped back “Polly. I forgot she knew about that. I never told you because it was such an awkward and uncoordinated failure that I told Archie if he ever spoke of it again, I would ban him from eating my cookies for life.”

“Ah. Food. The only thing as motivating to Archie as sex.” Jughead said dryly, smirking. Betty rolled her eyes, smacking him on the arm playfully. 

“But yes, when we were 14, I kissed Archie under the mistletoe, and it was unpleasant for both of us, and we are definitely not soulmates.” Betty said with a quiet snort. 

“I’m sure six year old Betty would be heartbroken.” he said teasingly. Betty squirmed slightly, making a face he couldn’t quite read for the second time that night. 

“I don’t know. I think people might be surprised by six year old Betty’s choices.”

“Well, she definitely kicked my ass in that snowball fight.” Jughead said with a laugh.

“Archie challenged me! I had to win!” Betty grinned, and took a long drink from her hot cocoa before glancing down at the timer on her phone. “We should head back inside now.” she said, and Jughead could have sworn she sounded almost wistful. He looked over at her, and smiled broadly. 

“Just one second.” he said. Betty looked at him, and started to shrug out of his jacket, assuming he wanted it back, but he shook his head. Instead, he reached over and gently swiped his thumb along her lower lip. “Whipped cream.” he said softly, showing the smudge of cream and cocoa powder on his thumb that he’d cleaned off her lip before he quickly licked it off his thumb with a shrug. “No reason to let it go to waste.” he offered cheerfully, and then pulling himself upright and offering a hand to Betty, to help her up. 

“Come with me, will you?” she asked, smiling, but shooting him something of a strange look as she reached for Jughead’s empty cocoa mug, to give him a free hand for the door as she held both mugs in one hand by the handles. 

“Just lead the way, Betts.” Jughead drawled, grinning down at her. Her cheeks were dusted with pink, but he told himself it was probably just from the cold. 

When they reentered the house, Betty set their mugs in the dishwasher and turned off the oven. After she checked a few things, Betty waved Jughead over. 

“Come upstairs for a minute? I want to give you one of your gifts, before people start going bananas.” Betty smiled at him, and she looked almost shy. Jughead nodded, and followed behind her as she left the kitchen and headed up the stairs and to her bedroom. She ducked through the door, and retrieved a small red bag stuffed to bursting with gold tissue. She presses it into his hands with a smile “I have a regular present for you too, for after midnight, like we always do, but this is just… something special. Since it’s our last Christmas, after all. Go ahead and open it.” 

Carefully, Jughead pulled all the paper out of the bag, revealing a little gold box. Inside the cold box was a bunch of cotton stuffing, and inside the stuffing Betty had nestled a picture perfect piece of mistletoe. Jughead looks at her. Blinks once. Twice. Swallows. 

“Is this just-” he asked, swallowing heavily again as he looked down at her. Betty’s eyes went wide, and she shook her head rapidly. 

“No, no, it’s not just bec-” she started to explain, but before she could finish the sentence, Jughead had laid the mistletoe box and bag on the floor and taken Betty’s face in his hands, pressing his lips to hers. He ran his thumbs along the lines of her cheek bones. She kissed him back, leaning into him and wrapping her arms around his waist. Over his heart, Jughead could feel a soft, warm glow, but he filed that away for later, instead focusing on pushing his hands up into Betty’s hair and kissing her more deeply. 

“God, I have wanted to do that forever.” Jughead whispered, still stroking the side of Betty’s face. 

“Why didn’t you?” she asked, looking up at him smiling and somewhat dazed. 

“I don’t know. My parents. Archie. Your parents.” Jughead shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed “But mostly just because you’re my best friend. Didn’t want to risk it, I guess.”

“I figured it was something like that.” she said quietly, reaching up to fiddle with a stray lock of Jughead’s hair. “I was too. Scared, I mean.” 

“I’m very intimidating.” Jughead said playfully. Betty rolled her eyes at him. “Do we want to head back downstairs to the party?”

“We should look. They’ll all ask.” Betty shrugged, looking down at the floor.

“Does it matter?” Jughead asked, his expression carefully neutral.

“No. I’d be in love with you anyway.” Betty said simply, her own expression open and soft and unguarded. 

“I love you too.” Jughead said with a smile, tilting Betty’s face up to his and giving her another soft kiss. “No matter what.” 

Before either of them moved to see if they now had a name across their hearts, Jughead took a moment to just look down at Betty, staring up at him lovingly, his jacket still draped around her shoulders, and the loose strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail was sticking to the sherpa collar. 

“Look for me?” Betty asked quietly, pointing at the wide boatneck of her soft red sweater. Jughead nodded, swallowing nervously before crooking a finger in the neck of Betty’s sweater and pulling it aside slowly and carefully. At first, all that’s there is more of Betty’s creamy skin, dotted with the occasional freckle, but right when Jughead can see the pink strap of her bra, he sees the beginning of a dark scrawl over Betty’s heart.

Jughead. His named spelled out in his own messy chicken scratch over Betty Cooper’s heart.

“Does it?” Betty asked breathlessly. Jughead nodded, a grin spilling from his lips. Eagerly, Betty reached over and tugged Jughead’s shirt aside. Over his heart was Betty’s name, in her neat cursive. “Yours too.” she whispered. 

“Kind of a given, Betts.” he teased lightly. “You’ve been it for me since the day we met.” he shrugged, smiling somewhat shyly. 

“Ready to brave the masses downstairs?” Betty said, smiling again and reaching out her hand for Jughead’s. He laced his fingers through hers and gave a squeeze. 

“Oh, I think we can handle it.” he said with a grin “I think we can handle anything together, Betts.” 

“Well, then come on soulmate. Let us go celebrate Christmas Eve.” Betty tugged on Jughead’s hand, and he followed behind her, heading back downstairs to the party.

**Author's Note:**

> merry christmas to my giftee, cooperandjonesinc! i hope you enjoyed your christmas soulmates au! <3


End file.
